Lady&#39;s undergarment



March 7, 1939. T. .1. SMUTNY LADYS UNDERGARMENT Filed Dec. 1, 1937INVENTOR. 77/500095 d. SMz/r/VY BY M v mmw ATTORNEYS Patented Mar. 7,1939 UNETED STATES PATENT OFFICE LADYS UNDERGAR-MENT ApplicationDecember 1, 1937, Serial No. 177,396

5 Claims.

The invention relates to wearing apparel, es pecially to undergarmentssuch as ladies slips. Its advantages, however, are also apparent whenembodied in the fabrication of any intimate garment of this type, forinstance, a chemise.

More particularly, the invention relates to an undergarment or slip ofthe general type illustrated in my Patent No. 2,053,227, dated Septemberl, 1936, which garment embodies certain improvements in the fabricationthereof, including the assembly of certain of the component portionsthereof in which the material is assembled with the duplex panelsconstituted of bias cut material.

The present application is a continuation, in part, of my application,Serial Number 157,469, filed August 5, 1937, maturing into Patent No.2,101,604 dated December 7, 1937.

An object of the present invention is to provide a garment of thisgeneral class, and particularly an improved construction of the typeclaimed in my said copending application, which will overcome certaindifficulties and disadvantages characterizing an underg-arment in whichseparate panels or pieces of material are joined, for instance, bystitching, so as to constitute a weak point of juncture where thematerial has a tendency to give and to tear by reason of the absence ofelasticity in the material at the point of such juncture.

It is well recognized by those skilled in the art of fabricating slips,chemises or the like, that the weakest point of the garment is at theportion thereof constituting a V-type juncture of the two yokes ofmaterial in both the front and the back sections of the garment. Whenthe wearer of such a garment indulges in any activity, bringing intoplay a movement of the shoulders, the strains and stresses produced bysuch movement. and transmitted to the rather closely fitted garment, thetendency of the material of the garment is to give at the point of suchjuncture of the two yokes. As the point of juncture is very firm andtherefore is characterized by very little, if any, elasticity, thematerial immediately adjacent the point of juncture is placed under anundue strain and eventually tears or otherwise disintegrates so that anyadvantages gained through the cutting of the material, constituting thecomponent parts of the garment, on the bias is nullified.

The primary object of fabricating a slip or similar garment andassembling panels of material cut on the bias is to give elasticity anda degree of resiliency to the undergarment, so that ordinary movementsof the wearer can be taken up and compensated for by the bias. Suchelasticity and resiliency, however, are lateral or sidewise elasticityand resiliency, and movements of the wearer of the garment involvingother than the ordinary muscular action as in walking or in assuming asitting position, are not compensated by the bias cutting of thematerial of the garment.

In accordance with the present invention, I provide an undergarment ofthis general class, including a slip and a chemise, so as to impart tosuch garments a freedom from strains and stresses that might otherwisebe imparted by a free swinging motion, both sidewise and longitudinally.I accomplish this object by providing in the back of the garment, acut-out substantially at the center and above the waistline, andinserting into such cut-out a strip of elastic which is thus positionedat the point of the garment where in the usual construction of such slipthe two solid yoke pieces are joined. Such insert so disposed will havea circumferential component of elasticity as well as a component ofelasticity at a right angle thereto, or in other words, the insert is sopositioned as to have its principal direction of stretch at an angle toeach of the edges of the cut-out. By this construction, a free movementof the wearer is permitted without binding and providing the utmostcomfort during periods of activity of the wearer not only duringindulgence in active working or recreational movements, but in thecourse of any movement in which a strain or stress would otherwise beimparted to the point of juncture of the two solid yoke pieces. Thus,for example, if a wearer in moving about raises one shoulder, the strainis absorbed by the elastic stretching a small degree longitudinally orin the direction of its free edge. No discomfort will thus beexperienced by the wearer because of any binding action of the slip. Ifthe wearer has to stoop over, the slip will expand with the expansion ofthe various parts of the body, permitted by the slight stretching of theelastic strip, so that the slip will stay in perfect position on thebody without undue strain placed thereon.

I am aware that with certain types of undergarments, for instance, thatembodying a brassiere with a body encircling portion so that the wholeconstitutes a slip, a strip of elastic is inserted laterally across theback; in such garment, however, the elastic strip has only a sidewise orlateral parallel expansion. With the angular movement possible with mynovel slip in which the elastic is capable of stretching along a line atan angle to the horizontal, a greater freedom of movement, withoutbinding and with no discomfort, is possible. Furthermore, with suchbrassiere type of slip the elastic strip is necessarily of some lengthand can therefore be applied only to a low-cut (i. e. low back) slip.

In my said copending application, Serial No. 157,469, I describe andclaim an elastic insert constituted of two separate pieces so positionedas to partially overlap. In accordance with the present' invention, Iovercome the manufacturing difficulties encountered in cutting twoseparate elastic sections of generally triangular configuration, byproviding a single strip of elastic material in the form of aparallelogram, in which the ribs extend longitudinally of the strip,which strip may be folded along the short diagonal thereof so as toconstitute a single piece of elastic material having a continuous,closed, bottom edge and two portions, one partially overlapping theother, for disposition within the cut-out in the back of the garment insubstantially the same position as the two separate pieces in thestructure of my copending application.

In accordance with such improved embodiment of my invention, I securesubstantially the same results with the great advantage in thecommercial production of the garment to which the invention is applied,of being enabled to cut the elastic material in pieces which can then befolded so as to have a continuous, closed lower edge and form the twopartially overlapping sections.

The folded elastic strip characterizing my novel slip may be insertedinto a garment of the type disclosed in my Patent No. 2,053,227hereinabove referred to, without distorting or nullifying the feature ofsuch slip, i. e. its reversibility, but it is to be understood that mynovel construction, as hereinafter more particularly described, isequally applicable to any other type of slip, chemise, or intimategarment of the same general character.

In the drawing, in which I have illustrated my invention as embodied ina slip, Fig. l is a view in rear prospective of the garment; Fig. 2 isan enlarged detail view of the upper central portion of the rear sectionof the slip, showing the elastic insert; Fig. 3 is a section on the line3--3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2; Fig. 5 isa plan view of the strip of elastic material before it is folded;and'Fig. 6 is a plan view of the folded strip showing the manner offorming the two elastic portions of the insert.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the slip comprises abody-encircling tubular portion In, to the upper edges of which issecured by lines of stitching H, the bust-encircling portion l2,constituted of a plurality of duplex panels I3, 14, I5 and it, of whichthe first two are the rear panels and the latter two the front panels.

In accordance with my invention, the two rear panels l3and 14, insteadof being connected by a V-joint to each other and to the body portion ofthe slip, have their apices cut off to form a substantially rectangularcut-out, into which out-out is placed and secured a piece of elasticmaterial folded so as to constitute sections 11 and I8, partiallyoverlapping, and secured along their vertical edges to the panels l3 andM by stitching l9 and 20, and to the body of the garment by stitching 2|and 2-2.

The elastic insert, as shown in Fig. 5, comprises a strip of ribbedelastic material of substantially parallelogram configuration, the ribsrunning longitudinally of the strip. In the construction of my novelgarment, such elastic strip is folded along its short diagonal so as toproduce triangular sections l1 and I8 in which the ribbing in one isdisposed perpendicularly to the ribbing in the other. In applying thefolded elastic insert to the garment, the two opposite parallel andperpendicular sides thereof are secured to the opposite panels of thebust encircling portion. of the garment, being secured within the duplexpanels by stitching, with the hypotenuse or longest edges 23 and 24 ofthe triangular portions crossing each other in substantially the uppercenter of the rear section of the slip.

As shown in Fig. 3, the tubular body portion I0 is first secured bystitching 2| to the continuous, closed bottom edge of the insertdesignated broad- 1y as 26 and then turned downwardly at the uppercenter thereof to constitute the inturned edge 25. The insert .26 isthen secured to the body portion by stitching 22, passing through thedouble thickness of elastic and the body portion.

The elastic inserts l1 and I8 are preferably of ribbed construction,with the ribs thereof disposed as shown in'Fig. 2. The inserts are thusinterposed in the space between the adjacent edges of the panels [3 andM, on the bias, so as to have their principal direction of stretch at anangle to each of the edges of the cut-out, whereby, when a pull isexerted, during movements of the wearer, as. by bending or otherwisemoving the shoulders, or either of them, the elastic insert is capableof stretching in the direction of the parallel ribs. As a matter offact, such pull upon the apex of the substantially triangular inserteffects a flexing of the longest edge 23 or 24 whereby such edge assumesa somewhat curved, extended delineation, and thus prevents pull on theopposite panel of the garment section, whereby binding or an otherwiseuncomfortable stress would be produced.

To prevent bulging of the elastic insert portions [1 and I8 whenundergoing stretching, I prefer to stitch a portion of the diagonal edgeof one to ment, it is obvious that it may be applied in the fabricationof any design or type of such garment, and that various changes therein,particularly in the disposition and configuration of the elasticinserts, so long as their advantages and general features, hereinaboveset forth, are embodied or retained, may be made without departing frommy invention.

I claim:

1. An intimate garment of the class described, comprising a tubular bodymember of material cut on the bias and adapted to encircle the body ofthe wearer below the'bust line, and an upper member of material cut onthe bias and adapted to encircle the body in the bust region, said uppermember having'panels'at the back of the garment, the upper edge of theback of the garment having a substantially U-shaped cut-out, the loweredge of the cut-out being continuously horizontal. an elastic insert,having a continuous horizontally disposed bottom edge secured to thelower edge of the cut-out, the side edge of the insert being secured toa side edge of the cut-out, said insert being positioned with itsprincipal direction of stretch at an acute angle to the lower and sideedges of the cut-out, whereby upon bodily movement of the wearer strainis reduced at the point of juncture of the edges of the cut-out and afreely swinging movement of the body is permitted without binding orother discomfort to the wearer.

2. An intimate garment of the class described, comprising a tubular bodymember adapted to encircle the body of the wearer below the bust line,and an upper member adapted to encircle the body in the bust region, theupper edge of the back having a cut-out substantially at the center,said cut-out having bottom and side edges, said body member and uppermember being joined at the back of the garment by an elastic insertsecured at its edges to the edges of the cut-out and so positioned as tohave its principal direction of stretch at an acute angle to each of theedges of the cut-out, said elastic insert being constituted of a stripof elastic material of a configuration in the form of a parallelogram,folded along its short diagonal to form two partially overlappingsections, whereby upon bodily movement of the wearer, strain is reducedat the point of juncture of the edges of the cut-out and a freelyswinging movement of the body is permitted without binding or otherdiscomfort to the wearer.

3. An intimate garment of the class described, comprising a tubular bodymember adapted to encircle the body of the wearer below the bust line,and an upper member adapted to encircle the body in the bust region, theupper edge of the back having a cut-out substantially at the center,said cut-out having bottom and side edges, said body member and uppermember being joined at the back of the garment by an elastic insertsecured at its edges to the edges of the cut-out and so positioned as tohave its principal direction of stretch at an acute angle to each of theedges of the cut-out, said elastic insert being constituted of a stripof ribbed elastic material of a configuration in the form of aparallelogram, folded along its short diagonal to form two partiallyoverlapping sections, the ribbing of one section being substantiallyperpendicular to the ribbing of the other, whereby upon bodily movementof the wearer, strain is reduced at the point of juncture of the edgesof the cut-out and a freely swinging movement of the body is permittedwithout binding or other discomfort to the wearer.

4. An intimate garment of the class described, comprising a tubular bodymember adapted to encircle the body of the wearer below the bust line,and an upper member adapted to encircle the body in the bust region, theupper edge of the back having a cut-out substantially at the center,said cut-out having bottom and side edges, said body member and uppermember being joined at the back of the garment by an elastic insertsecured at its edges to the edges of the cut-out and so positioned as tohave its principal direction of stretch at an acute angle to each of theedges of the cut-out, said elastic insert being constituted of a stripof elastic material of a configuration in the form of a parallelogram,folded along its short diagonal to form two partially overlappingsections, a portion of the diagonal edge of one of said insert sectionsbeing stitched to the underlying material of the other insert section,whereby upon bodily movement of the wearer, strain is reduced at thepoint of juncture of the edges of the cut-out and a freely swingingmovement of the body is permitted without binding or other discomfort tothe wearer.

5. An intimate garment of the class described, comprising a tubular bodymember of mate-rial cut on the bias and adapted to encircle the body ofthe wearer below the bust line, and an upper member of material cut onthe bias and adapted to encircle the body in the bust region, said uppermember having panels at the back of the garment, the upper edge of theback having a cutout substantially at the center, said cut-out havingbottom and side edges, the latter being at an angle to the bottom edge,an elastic insert secured at its edges to the edges of the cut-out, theinsert also having continuous horizontally disposed bottom edges securedto the lower edges of the cutout, one side edge of the insert beingsecured to the lower edges of the cut-out, one side edge of the insertbeing secured to a side edge of the cut-out, said insert beingpositioned so that its. principal direction of stretch is at an acuteangle to each of the edges of the cut-out, said elastic insert beingconstituted of a strip of elastic material of a configuration in theform of a parallelogram, folded along its short diagonal to form twopartially overlapping sections, the upper edges of the two sectionsconstituting the elastic insert, being substantially in alignment withthe upper edges of the garment panels to which they are secured, wherebyupon bodily movement of the wearer, strain is reduced at the point ofjuncture of the edges of the cut-out and a freely swinging movement ofthe body is permitted without binding or other discomfort to the wearer.

THEODORE J. SMUTNY.

